Coldarra is an island just off the coast of the Borean Tundra in Northrend, and is home to the Dragon Aspect of Magic — Malygos. He is known to gather relics of great power, keeping them locked away from mortals in his lair, the Nexus. Frozen orcs, naga, trolls, and wendigos that had dared to enter the sanctity of Malygos' lair can be found throughout the island. They remain frozen, like statues, as a warning to those who would venture into the dragon's lair.

The only access point is the bridge (Frostbridge) across the Westrift, requiring permission of the blue dragons guarding it to gain access. No one sets foot on Coldarra unannounced or uninvited.

The entire island is made of ice, great jagged peaks that rise from the cold ocean like pale blue fangs. Some of those peaks rise high enough that one can see all the way to Crystalsong Forest and even to the Dragonblight. Dragons are the only inhabitants, not counting the occasional sheep or mountain goat. Rumors say that visitors sometimes stay to study with Malygos or record his tales, but no one settles permanently. The dragons don’t allow it. Because of this Coldarra has no Scourge presence.

Coldarra is a large island — at least relative to the Northrend mainland. It is roughly a third as long as the mainland, though only as wide as the tip of the Borean Tundra or the Howling Fjord. Coldarra has no beaches and no gentle shore — its edges rear up as cliffs from the surrounding water. Most of the island is rock covered by thick ice, though here and there enough dirt has gathered to produce tough grass or small bushes. The dragons themselves live in caves fashioned from the cliffs and mountains, or in handsome stone buildings carved into the peaks. The island has no roads or bridges, save the one linking it to the mainland. The dragons fly everywhere, and carry guests from place to place.

Coldarra is an irresistible lure for arcanists. Malygos is unquestionably the most powerful arcane spellcaster in all Azeroth, and designed not only most spells but the theories behind them. His libraries could make any mage powerful beyond his or her dreams, and even a few words with the ancient blue dragon could grant power and wisdom most mortals never achieve.

Coldarra has only one real settlement. Blue dragons are solitary creatures. They prefer to live alone and meet only for discussion, flight or mating. One exception to the dragons’ solitary existence is the Nexus, Malygos’s home and the dragons’ center of knowledge.[1]

Contents

The blue dragons say Malygos, the oldest and greatest of their kind, created the spells that set the sky and the earth into motion. Harnessing the world’s magic and developing these spells took millennia; he settled in the ice cliffs of Coldarra during that time. Other blue dragons joined him, though many lived elsewhere in the north. Then the black dragon Deathwing attacked the blue dragons, slaughtering them by the dozens. The survivors fought back but were no match for Deathwing’s ferocity. In the process their homes were destroyed and the land so damaged it could never recover. That area became the Dragonblight.

Malygos, in his rage and grief, split his home from the rest of the land, creating the gap later named the Westrift. The remainder of the blue dragon race settled on Malygos’s island, which they named Coldarra, and carved out homes of their own. They gave up the war against Deathwing and the black dragonflight and chose to withdraw from the world. Soon they lost themselves in study, though always they look toward the Dragonblight and the spirits of their kin still lingering there.[2]

An ancient scroll, found in a Northrend ruin, mentioned a spell that can remove undeath from a huge number of creatures at the same time, laying the undead creatures permanently to rest. Such a spell could rid the world of the Scourge for good and strip the Lich King of his power. The scroll had no details, but if such a spell does exist the blue dragons of Coldarra must know it, and possibly have it. All that remains is for heroes to gain access to the island and ask them — or, barring that, sneak onto the island unnoticed, sneak into the Nexus, and search for the spell without getting caught. Its unknown if anyone tried.[2]

While it is separate region in the RPG, in the World of Warcraft expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, Coldarra shares the same map as the Borean Tundra rather than being on its own separate map. Coldarra is still marked on the map with the larger font used to designate separate regions. However, Coldarra is not marked on the main Northrend overworld map.

Coldarra is a portmanteau of "cold" and "caldera" suggesting that long ago, before the Great Sundering and Northrend formed into an arctic tundra, it was the site of a large volcanic crater. Or perhaps it was simply a volcano that erupted during the Sundering and formed into a caldera. It is unclear whether the volcano itself is dormant, but given extreme damage sustained by the Sundering, the molten cavity could have collapse there by rendering Coldarra completely lifeless.